Keenseeyera
by chocolatebearturk
Summary: Taz finally has her first dance at her quinceañera, a few days too late.


It's days after the rescue before Up can see the girl again. She's been through a lot of trauma, or so the doctors say. She hasn't cried once since she came in and gabbles at them in her native tongue, though she's proven perfectly able to speak English. She refuses to change out of the battered pink dress she was wearing when he found her, although she's bathed since. Her hair, which had been done up in a fancy 'do, had been scorched by zapper fire. All she has left now is a mess of curls on top of her head with thin strands coming down on either side of her face.

She doesn't see him approach. In fact, she doesn't seem to see anything at all. She sits on the ledge of one of the large windows, staring out with blank eyes that remind him oddly of the family members he'd seen scattered about the garden, the eyes that had watched as she kicked and screamed at the robots that were trying to string her up.

He lays a hand on her shoulder and she jumps violently, bringing up a fist to punch whoever had snuck up on her in the gut. He is faster and grabs it before she can make contact. A bit of life seems to come back to her and her mouth quirks momentarily, as if in a smile. The expression falls from her face when he takes a seat opposite her.

"I don't need to talk about it," she says gruffly. Her frown colors her speech almost as much as her heavy accent. "They're gone, I'm here, whatever. Just drop me off at the next port and I'll be out of your hair."

His eyes dart up to her hair, which is trimmed neatly around the burns. The doctors told him that she refused to get it cut into a more appropriate style, just allowed them to trim off the burnt ends. As he looks at her, he decides this suits her. She scowls to see him studying her and defensively crosses her arms at him. "What? _¿Qué estás mirando, tonto?_"

He can't speak Spanish, but he can understand it, so he politely turns his eyes out the window. After a moment, she does the same. They sit there in silence for a while before he finally clears his throat.

"I've got something to show you."

"_¿Qué?_"

Up rolls his eyes and grabs her hand. "Just come with me."

Ignoring her protests and the looks he gets from his shipmates, he tows her down the corridor, never stopping long enough for her to glance at the signs that are posted up. He doesn't know how much time she's had to explore the ship, but he isn't about to lead her on a tour. It takes only a few minutes to get to the deck he wants. He pauses briefly outside, entering a few commands into the control panel next to the door and the girl pulls her hand out of his.

"_¿Qué este lugar?_" she murmurs, tracing the number 31 that's been painted in yellow on the door. She turns to look at him. "Where are we?"

"Nowhere special," he grunts. Finally done, he punches the button. The door slides open with a whoosh, right under the girl's fingers. He clears his throat. "A bit of advice: try not to touch the doors when they're moving." She glares at him, but he just points into the dark room.

The door shuts behind them and for a moment the room is black as pitch. Up flicks a switch and the area is lit immediately. It's relatively small, with a support column on either side. The window is blacked out as per the commands Up had entered while they were outside. It is also lit by about half a dozen strands of fairy lights.

There is little other decoration—the contents of a starship don't exactly offer much in the form of party décor. The most they had was a few white sheets used to cover up the grungy military ship interior.

The girl stares around her, unable to form words. Up sniffs and says, "I thought… since your party was interrupted, I could… finish it for you. It was your keen-see-yera, right?"

"_Quinceañera_," she corrects softly. She turns his way and he can see that anger is starting to build inside her from her stance. "Why are you doing this for me? _¿Para un niña pequeña sucia?_" The last part comes out bitterly, through clenched teeth.

Up ignores her questions and crosses the room to a little audio player that's been sitting in the corner. He presses a button and soon the room is filled with soft music played on a Spanish guitar. He comes back to stand in front of her and holds out one of his hands.

"¿Pu-eedo bay-lar esta pi-eeza?" he says. His Southern accent fumbles the words, but they're understandable. The girl stares. Long seconds pass until she finally launches herself across the distance between them and wraps her arms tightly around him. Her shoulders shake and Up can feel her tears soaking his shirt. For a moment, he has no idea what to do, until he tentatively returns the hug. Her crying increases and he can hear her mumbling in Spanish.

"I-it's gonna be okay, Taz," he says, nervously patting her on the head. After a moment, he tightens his hold. "It's gonna be okay."

**Note: Every translation here comes from Google Translate, so excuse the clumsiness. Especially if you speak Spanish.**

_¿Qué estás mirando, tonto?_ = What are you looking at, fool?

_¿Qué?_ = What?

_¿Qué este lugar?_ = What is this place?

_Quinceañera_ = a girl's fifteenth birthday. Kind of like a sweet sixteen for Latina girls.

_¿Para un niña pequeña sucia?_ = For a dirty little girl?

At the end, Up was trying to say "¿Puedo bailar esta pieza?" which means, "May I have this dance?"


End file.
